First thing that comes to our mind hearing “CAT” is so tough Exam, whether we will be able to prepare for CAT or not? Or How much effort we need to put in? etc etc.But let me tell you its not that difficult to crack CAT. Just need the right kind of Preparation and Conviction. Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted in India only and a computerized based test. To appear this test a person must be strong in Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability, Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation. This exam is started by IIM(s) and select students for admission to various business administration programs of IIMs, IITs, IISc, NITs ,FMS and few other institutions, using the result of the test. Each year CAT is conducted by one of the IIM’s, which is based on a rotation policy.

How to Prepare for CAT

Format of CAT-Like all other large-exam it also utilizes multiple forms of the test.It is divided in to two sections- a)Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation. b)Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning.Both the sections are executed simultaneously with different time limits.Wrong answer scores negative marking.It is 155 minutes Exam overall and it contains about 60 questions.

After going through many research papers on “ how to prepare for CAT ” and using my own experience, I would like to share something which would be beneficial for you all to crack CAT.

In order to Prepare for CAT, I joined a classroom program in 3rd year of my engineering. It started in Nov and continued till April. Few best coaching institutes that I would like to suggest- Career Forum, Career Launcher, IMS learning resources private limited. One must need to know his or her weakness & strength regarding the subjects. I always felt that I am weak in quantitative analysis and Data Interpretation although the concept is not that hard to comprehend. I am good at Logical reasoning.

So, never took a serious interest in solving LR, but yes never got carried away by the fact that it is my strong point. whenever got leisure time I used to solve it and regarding quantitative and data interpretation, I constantly practiced that and most of the time I gave for this.. English is also an important part of preparation, we cannot overlook it. so every subject is important and it depends on how you are planning for the preparation.

To crack CAT “focus” is really necessary but it doesn’t need a big part of your life to prepare for it… You can enjoy your life too while preparing for CAT. I never really sat for long, for the preparation but whenever I sat was focused and totally dedicated.

Dos and Don’ts for CAT

As far as coaching is concerned it helped me a lot to prepare for CAT because as students we never get chance to talk to personalities of MBA caliber. Coaching institutes provide us with good faculties who have experienced the MBA lifestyles and can really help us showing the exact pros and cons of MBA and guide us through the right way of preparation needed for it. Various online test formats also helped a lot in revising the concepts. Joining or not joining coaching is a personal choice. If you can be regular with your studies then you can still prepare for CAT without classroom coaching.

As an engineer we also had to sit for practicing Quantitative Ability and Logical Reasoning as we had to sit for our campuses so it was a part of my routine I never had any schedule for this. Whenever I felt that I can give my 100% to the preparation, sat for it.

During my college exams I never use to prepare for CAT. As I said I studied for short hours, took breaks whenever possible. I often played badminton & spent time with my friends. It always helped me to keep my mind relaxed & to put in extra effort towards the preparation.

When time approaches near, to crack CAT, planning is important at that point of time because we cannot prepare anything totally new to us then. So it’s better to keep revising what we have learnt and most important thing is not to panic as keeping ourselves calm will help us to schedule our preparation during that short period, else all the hard work done for a long time will be ruined during this period. Whenever I felt like taking breaks while studying never hesitated to take it.

Lastly, I would like to say that before my CAT exam, thought it to be hard & only geniuses can crack CAT but after experiencing the exam my belief totally changed. Anyone can crack CAT. Schedule your studies. Know Your strengths and weaknesses as soon as possible. Give a good amount of preparation for overcoming your weaknesses & simultaneously keep a check on your strengths & above all be calm. Never panic at any stage of preparation. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.

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I write questions for different exams , Being an engineer by profession I guide different coaching centers in setting sample paper for different competitive exams like TISS , MAT etc Its my passionate interest in writing these posts nearly every day.I am first and foremost a lifelong learner and try to learn something new every day. I regard myself as an educationalist because I write and am concerned with education in its widest sense and how we can make sure that as many people are given the opportunity to benefit from “education" >